These Are the Most Watched Types of Social Video [INFOGRAPHIC]

We've all learned about the importance of pivoting to video, but some communicators have pivoted so fast they've become disoriented. Folding videos into your social strategy is great in concept, but doing so without a focus on what works will not help content reach more target audiences.

That's why online video-maker Animoto's new survey results are telling, drawn from a sample of 1,017 U.S. adult consumers who own smartphones, use social media and consume social video. Their "2018 State of Social Video: Consumer Trends" survey found some stats that aren't all too surprising: Video is the preferred content medium for customers on all social platforms, while Instagram video drove the most revenue in 2018.

Other stats are less obvious, but tremendously telling: 46% of customers watch more video ads on social media than on television, and that stat balloons to 57% when only counting the millennial customers surveyed. One wonders if a survey of Gen Z consumers would have yielded an even higher percentage rate.

Asked what type of social video they watched most, consumers' top three responses were also telling: how-to videos, lists, and clips about sales and promos. Two of these video types also translate to strategies for engagement through editorial content—the reason people read so many listicles and how-to pieces is because they want to know upfront how the information you are providing benefits them. Unsurprising, then, that providing a service to your audience through how-to content and lists provides many happy returns in video form, too.